Psycho4Bud
03-31-2008, 03:08 PM
HAVANA (AP) â?? New President Raul Castro's government has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending another restriction that had been especially irksome to citizens.
Employees at the Nacional, Valencia and Santa Isabel Hotels in Havana said Ministry of Tourism officials told them Cubans were allowed to stay in hotels across the island as of midnight on Monday. Like other guests, they will be charged in hard currency worth 24 times the Cuban pesos state employees are paid in.
"They have informed us that with a national ID card, anyone can stay here," an employee at the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Old Havana said Monday. Non-guests who are Cuban nationals will also be allowed to pay for other hotel services, including gyms, said the employee, who asked for anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to foreign reporters.
Some hotels scheduled morning meetings with staff members to discuss the changes. and officials said new rules will also allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.
On Friday, Cuba authorized its citizens to obtain mobile phones, which only foreigners and key officials in the Communist Government were previously allowed to have. A resolution signed by the Interior Commerce Ministry on March 21 also authorized the sale of computers, microwaves and DVD players, items which had only been sold to companies and foreigners.
Many Cubans are too poor to benefit the lifting of restrictions. The government controls well over 90 percent of the economy and the average monthly state salary is a little less than $20.
But much of the population has access to convertible pesos, either through jobs in tourism or with foreign firms or cash sent by relatives living in the United States. They will suddenly have a host of new ways to spend their money.
Official restrictions that banned all Cubans â?? even those who could afford it â?? from enjoying beach resorts and luxury hotels have been an especially sore point for many on the island since the government began encouraging foreign tourism en masse in the early 1990s. Critics of the government have branded the bans "tourism apartheid."
Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in Cuba.
Since taking power from his ailing, 81-year-old brother Fidel on Feb. 24, Raul Castro, 76, has pledged to make improving everyday life for Cubans a top priority and undo "excessive restrictions" on society and the economy.
The Associated Press: Cuba Allows Citizens to Stay in Hotels (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hO0J8Ay3ikLhTy5g5ekNfMnr2pFAD8VODS1O0)
Crazy....and people bitch about their rights in this country.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
Employees at the Nacional, Valencia and Santa Isabel Hotels in Havana said Ministry of Tourism officials told them Cubans were allowed to stay in hotels across the island as of midnight on Monday. Like other guests, they will be charged in hard currency worth 24 times the Cuban pesos state employees are paid in.
"They have informed us that with a national ID card, anyone can stay here," an employee at the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Old Havana said Monday. Non-guests who are Cuban nationals will also be allowed to pay for other hotel services, including gyms, said the employee, who asked for anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to foreign reporters.
Some hotels scheduled morning meetings with staff members to discuss the changes. and officials said new rules will also allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.
On Friday, Cuba authorized its citizens to obtain mobile phones, which only foreigners and key officials in the Communist Government were previously allowed to have. A resolution signed by the Interior Commerce Ministry on March 21 also authorized the sale of computers, microwaves and DVD players, items which had only been sold to companies and foreigners.
Many Cubans are too poor to benefit the lifting of restrictions. The government controls well over 90 percent of the economy and the average monthly state salary is a little less than $20.
But much of the population has access to convertible pesos, either through jobs in tourism or with foreign firms or cash sent by relatives living in the United States. They will suddenly have a host of new ways to spend their money.
Official restrictions that banned all Cubans â?? even those who could afford it â?? from enjoying beach resorts and luxury hotels have been an especially sore point for many on the island since the government began encouraging foreign tourism en masse in the early 1990s. Critics of the government have branded the bans "tourism apartheid."
Tourism generates more than $2 billion annually in Cuba.
Since taking power from his ailing, 81-year-old brother Fidel on Feb. 24, Raul Castro, 76, has pledged to make improving everyday life for Cubans a top priority and undo "excessive restrictions" on society and the economy.
The Associated Press: Cuba Allows Citizens to Stay in Hotels (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hO0J8Ay3ikLhTy5g5ekNfMnr2pFAD8VODS1O0)
Crazy....and people bitch about their rights in this country.
Have a good one!:jointsmile: